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Ex-Irkutsk governor Mezentsev appointed SCO Director General

The SCO Secretary General is appointed from among citizens of the SCO member states on a rotating basis for three years without the right of extension

BEIJING, June 7 (Itar-Tass) — Former governor of the Irkutsk Region Dmitry Mezentsev has been appointed Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

“The Heads of State made a decision to appoint Mezentsev SCO Secretary General,” it is said in the Information Statement adopted on the results of the Beijing summit.

The SCO leaders also decided to appoint representative of China Zhang Sinfen as Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Antiterrorist Structure (RATS).

Both of new SCO leaders will hold these positions from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015.

At the Beijing Summit China handed over the SCO rotating presidency to Kyrgyzstan until the next SCO summit. “The next meeting of the Council of Heads of SCO member states will be held in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in 2013,” the document says.

The SCO Secretary General is appointed from among citizens of the SCO member states on a rotating basis for three years without the right of extension of the office term. Until recently, the SCO secretariat was headed by representative of Kyrgyzstan Muratbek Imanaliyev.

The SCO secretariat has the tasks to provide organisational and technical support to activities carried out within the SCO framework, to take part in the working out and execution of all documents within the Organisation, prepare proposals on the annual budget.

Dmitry Mezentsev was born in Leningrad on August 18, 1959. In 1981 he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Railway Transport Engineers with the specialty “railway engineer.” He has the Candidate of Science degree in Psychology. In 2009 – 2012 Mezentsev held the post of governor, chairman of the government of the Irkutsk Region. On May 18, 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the regional head’s voluntary early resignation.